As we enter the new year, the FTC continues to prioritize consumer protection and fair competition, taking significant steps to prosecute offenders for alleged misleading conduct regarding consumer consent and enforce existing court orders. Additionally, the FTC has announced multiple revisions to the jurisdictional thresholds under the Clayton Act, increasing the thresholds for premerger notification filings, related filing fees, and interlocking directorates. Finally, Commissioner Meador delivered the keynote address at the 2026 Tech Antitrust Conference and discussed concerns about technology innovation and the emerging trend of “acqui-hires.” These stories and more after the jump.
Tuesday, January 13, 2026
Bureau of Consumer Protection; Deceptive/Misleading Conduct; Advertising and Marketing; Online Advertising and Marketing; Payments and Billing
- The FTC sued JustAnswer LLC, an online question-and-answer service that connects consumers with credentialed experts, and its CEO, Andrew Kurtzig, alleging deceptive enrollment in a recurring monthly subscription to its service without consumers’ affirmative consent. The FTC’s complaint alleges JustAnswer violated Section 5(a) of the FTC Act by misrepresenting and deceptively omitting material facts in its “one-time join fee” and subsequently enrolling its customers into a recurring monthly subscription. The complaint also alleges JustAnswer violated the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA) by engaging in a prohibited practice, the negative option feature, and providing services under the customer’s silence or failure to take affirmative actions to reject the services or cancel the agreement. The FTC is pursuing a second violation under ROSCA for the company’s alleged failure to obtain express informed consent before charging consumers for the transaction. The Commission is seeking injunctive relief and civil penalties for each violation of ROSCA.
Bureau of Consumer Protection; Credit Cards; Credit and Finance; Payments and Billing.
- The FTC filed a motion requesting that Cliq, Inc., formerly known as Cardflex, Inc., and its CEO, Andrew Phillips, and Chief Technology and Security Officer, John Blaugrund, be held in contempt for alleged violations of a 2015 Final Court Order. The 2015 Final Order imposed a monetary judgment against the parties, a permanent restraint and enjoinment from certain payment processing practices, and required screening criteria for prospective clients. The FTC now alleges that Cliq has violated several provisions of the 2015 Final Order. The alleged violations include processing payments for merchants with high chargeback rates, assisting their clients in avoiding bank and credit card network fraud and risk monitoring programs, and processing transactions for high-risk clients without engaging in an effort to screen for deceptive practices. The Commission is seeking that the court impose compensatory relief for $52.9 million and that the 2015 Final Order be modified to add new provisions and to ban Andrew Phillips and John Blaugrund from continued payment processing.
Thursday, January 15, 2026
Bureau of Competition; Merger; Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (HSR)
- The FTC announced annual updates to the jurisdictional and fee thresholds for premerger notification filings related to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act of 1976 (the HSR Act). Section 7(A)(a)(2) of the Clayton Act, as amended by the HSR Act, requires all persons contemplating certain mergers or acquisitions that meet or exceed the Clayton Act’s jurisdictional thresholds to file a notification with both the FTC and the DOJ’s Assistant Attorney General. The parties must then wait a specified period before consummating the transaction. This section of the Clayton Act requires the Commission to revise the jurisdictional thresholds annually based on changes in gross national product. Effective February 17, 2026, the size-of-the-transaction threshold for reporting proposed mergers and acquisitions will increase from $126.4 million to $133.9 million. The FTC is also required to revise the HSR filing fee schedule to reflect changes in the gross national product and in the consumer price index. In 2026, the new filing fee schedule based on the size-of-the-transaction will range from $35,000 (for transaction sizes less than $189.6 million) to $2.46 million (for transaction sizes of $5.86 billion or more). For more information, see our Client Alert.
Bureau of Competition; Interlocking Directorates
- The FTC announced annual updates to the jurisdictional thresholds regarding interlocking directorates related to the Clayton Act. Section 8 of the Clayton Act prohibits, with certain exceptions, one person from serving as a director of two competing corporations—a practice called “interlocking directorates”—if two thresholds are met. In 2025, competitor corporations were covered by Section 8 of the Clayton Act if each corporation had capital, surplus, and undivided profits exceeding $10 million, with the exception that no corporation was covered if the competitive sales of either corporation were less than $1 million. Section 8(a)(5) requires the Commission to revise these thresholds annually based on changes in gross national product. Effective immediately, in 2026, the threshold for covered corporations increased to $54.4 million, with the exception of no-cover corporations, which increased to $5.4 million. For more information, see our Client Alert.
Bureau of Competition; Commissioners
- On January 15, 2026, Commissioner Mark Meador delivered the Keynote Address at the Tech Antitrust Conference in Palo Alto, CA. The Commissioner discussed the need for collaboration between Silicon Valley’s technological innovations and Washington, D.C.’s policymaking. The Commissioner expressed concern that some incumbent tech firms are inhibiting innovation through emerging practices, such as “acqui-hires,” in AI research. The Commissioner described “acqui-hires” as individuals who are offered enormous payouts to abandon their startups and join dominant tech firms. The Commissioner noted that from a competition enforcement perspective, this dynamic could lead to competitive harms, such as circumventing the formal premerger notification review under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. The Commissioner signaled that the FTC is paying close attention to evolving market conditions and will act fast.